


Best Kept Secret

by deitaru



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, College, F/F, Humanstuck, M/M, Not Underage, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, childlike tendencies, descriptions of violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-11
Updated: 2014-03-11
Packaged: 2018-01-15 08:42:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1298599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deitaru/pseuds/deitaru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John's primary concern is for his friends and their slow, molasses-like distancing that even for all of its languidness will always feel too fast and unwanted, like an old Sonic meme.<br/>John's secondary concern is for his schoolwork, tiring and demanding on a near-daily basis because who ever thought college would actually be, I dunno, work? Especially when you aren't sure exactly which direction you want to be going in. </p>
<p>So what happens when his best friend's older brother starts slinking his way into his life? </p>
<p>Priorities shift and shit goes down.<br/>And John is left to wonder what's really important.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best Kept Secret

It was quarter after one A.M., and while most people would be asleep at this time on a Wednesday night, you're currently sitting in a booth at Denny's with your best friends. The restaurant was well known for being open 24/7 and none abused this privilege more than the four of you.  
You'd been doing this so long that you couldn't quite pinpoint at what moment it had become a thing. A habit. Routine. Wednesday nights with a heaping plate of pancakes in the middle of the table at a near-empty establishment that didn't need your patronage but still served you with nothing less than warm smiles and offers for refills on your respective beverages.  
Dave, to your left, shaking his head no as the waitress inquired about his glass of juice, leaning over to show you a picture of a man in a banana suit he'd saved on his phone.  
Rose, across from Dave, smiling and graciously accepting another mug of hot chocolate.  
Jade, directly in front of you, practically snoring over her water, fingers sticky with the syrup she'd poured gratuitously over a pancake that was forgotten moments before dozing off.

And you. John Egbert, grinning in your seat and wondering where in the world you'd managed to acquire such amazing friends. Not that you'd say that aloud. That would be weird. You were twenty years old and perfectly capable of expressing your love for your friends without gushing about it like a half-drunk text in the middle of the night. 

"I can't imagine how comfortable that is, David. Perhaps you should obtain something of a similar nature and put on a show for us? The joy of the costume simply cannot be captured in this small image alone." Rose's voice carries traces of a smirk that you could see out of the corner of your eye as Dave stretches his arms (noodles, as they were affectionately called) across the table to show her. 

You throw a balled-up napkin at Jade and she sits up with a jolt, lazily wiping a line of drool from the corner of her mouth. Your eyebrows move twice: up and then down, teasing her and letting her know in as few motions as possible that you were aware of the fact that you had, for once, successfully caught her unaware and thus had the upper hand. She retaliates with a napkin of her own, hitting you between the eyes and almost knocking your glasses off of their precarious perch upon the thin bridge of your nose.  
"I call foul play!" You cry, the corners of your mouth drawing down into a dramatic frown. A peal of laughter escapes her throat, her eyes shining as brightly as you suspected yours were and she claps a hand to her mouth in mock apology.  
"Gosh, John. I figured you'd be expecting it! You weren't even asleep or anything. Next time I'll remember how bad your vision is and aim a bit lower!"  
Dave's laughter cadences with Jade's and then Rose is joining in and the empty restaurant is echoing their mirth and you can't help but giggle as well, lifting your hand up to cover your mouth as you do so. 

The waitress approaches for the second time since your food arrived, and her question is "How's everything tasting tonight?" but all of you know that her subtle appearance is a cue for you to pipe down and so the four of you respectfully stop laughing, reassuring her that the food is delicious, as always. Dave even goes so far as to shoot her a grin and as soon as he opens his mouth you groan, anticipating what's about to come out of it. And you aren't left disappointed.  
"Send my love to the chef but hey if he's not accepting gifts right now I'm more than willing to pass it on to you instead." She rolls her eyes, which only just now realize are a lovely shade of green, the sudden tint in her cheeks meaning that Dave's effortless charm had once again saved one awkward situation only to cause another.  
"He's taken, if you were going to ask," Rose pipes up over the flustered attempt at a reply from the waitress, "Her name is rap music and he's quite devoted, actually. It's the pinnacle of a loving and wonderful relationship."  
The waitress leaves quickly thereafter, looking a bit taken aback but not as grumpy as she did a few minutes ago and Dave immediately shoots Rose a look of pure venom, his eyebrows lowered so far that they disappeared behind the rim of his sunglasses, which should be an annoyance to everyone that he insists on wearing them indoors but has now turned into something that you've all come to accept. Just another one of his idiosyncrasies.  
"God dammit Lalonde I was about to score some major booty there and you had to go and mention the missus."  
"My apologies. I didn't want her to become yet another woman you've led astray only to abandon them in the dust caused by your sick beats."  
"Yeah it's a real shame I can't seem to find a woman who'd settle for an affair. Now that you mention it--" 

You slowly tune their banter out, shaking your head and reaching for your fifth (sixth?) pancake, spreading a dubious amount over butter over the lightly browned surface. A quick glance up from your plate showed that Jade had dozed off and you allow her this small respite. She was taking the most rigorous courses out of the four of you, her degree in neuroscience proving exhausting even for the exuberant and driven girl. She barely went out, and by Wednesday she was usually exhausted, but no amount of coaxing could get her to stay home. So she slept in fits over her food and that was all right with the rest of you guys.  
"Speaking of your music, Dave," You interject (If you didn't squeeze in a word edgewise now and again they'd talk themselves into the next century) "How's that DJ thing going anyway? You've been kinda mysterious about it since you first started looking for work."  
He shrugs and even through his shades you could tell he was rolling his eyes at your question. "Yep that's me mister dark mysterious handsome rapper guy I'm totally keeping my world a secret from you you got me where's the cuffs do I at least get a phone call?"  
Your only reply is to cross your arms and squint, your eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. Rose takes this moment to sip at her drink and gently prod Jade awake once more, but you're all too focused on Dave to do more than take a brief note of that.  
"Dude," He's exasperated and his knife finds itself in the stack of pancakes, but it's not a malicious stab. He feels nothing for the pancakes but apathy it's just his restlessness again, you're sure. "If there was something going on I'd let you know. I'm not keeping secrets there's literally no news on my end. DJ work comes and goes it ain't consistent worth shit. So there. I dunno what you were expecting but that's it there's no big plot twist to this pathetic movie titled my life."  
He lets out a breath of air and flops back into the booth, trilling his tongue and then looking around. He was never good at keeping things under wraps but you decide quickly to just let it go. For now. He'd tell you if it was really that important, and you knew better than to badger him about it.  
"So how are your classes going, John," Rose politely inquires and you breathe a sigh of relief.  
"Pretty okay, actually," You reply, turning to her, grateful for the distraction. "Math class is horrible as always but I'm getting through. Might enroll in some tutoring after finals soon or something."  
"Be careful with that idea. I know all too well how after school tutoring goes. And not even from my own experience, though I'm sure that would be thrilling."  
"You read a lot of freaky bullshit."  
She just replies with a smile and the tension in the air is gone just like that, the four of you relaxing and enjoying the rest of the night in relative normalcy. But you can't help but think that everything isn't as okay as you're so good at making it seem. 

Rose was the designated driver of the Wednesday night excursions, being the only one with a car. Her mother's house is too far away from campus to make busing logical, and her well-to-do parent decided that 22 was a perfect age to acquire the household's mini cooper. So the four of you pile into the small vehicle and head off to drop everyone off, starting with Dave, his apartment complex the first one in a chain of many along the road. He slides out of the car, tipping an invisible hat to Rose as he heads inside. Next is Jade, as always, as she scrambles out onto the sidewalk in front of her dorm building, giving the two of you a huge wave and a shouted promise of next week before she too, headed inside.

It was just you and Rose in the car now, and the silence was palpable but comfortable for all of it's heaviness. You can't help but break it though, as your worries about Dave have been growing rapidly. 

"I'm sure he's being as honest as he deems appropriate, John. You can't expect him to divulge everything about his situation. He is the only one of us not attending school at the moment, he can't feel entirely at ease with what he does wind up doing."  
You make a strangled noise of protest in the back of your throat and she risks turning her attention away from the road if only to affix you with an eyebrow raise and accompanying glare.  
"He's an adult now, John. You aren't his father. That would be something though. Regardless of your near paternal determination to find out what he's "up to" as you claim, I'm nearly seventy five percent sure he isn't in any sort of trouble."  
"It's not like he actually has a dad to be worried about him, you don't know that he's okay, Rose! That's the thing! We don't know! He won't tell us anything!!"  
Your voice raises in pitch with each sentence and you don't bother forcing yourself to calm down. Her eyebrow shoots up again, though she doesn't take her eyes off the road this time.  
"He has an older brother, does he not? John, frankly what he does is none of your business and I'm sure he'd be insulted to know how little you think of him."  
That shuts you up and you sit stiffly for the rest of the ride, your arms folded tightly across your chest in a silent act of dissension. 

She idles the car in front of your house and turns fully over to your side, her mouth opening in what's probably going to be another barrage of her 'Flawless literary logic.' You aren't having any of it, so you wave her off and mutter a curt, "Thanks for the ride," before all but running inside. It's nearly three A.M. but your mind is restless and so instead of heading to sleep like you should, you walk across your room and sit at your computer, turning it on with a flick of your pointer finger against the power button. You flinch at the start-up noise and hope it hadn't awoken your Dad. While you were twenty, perfectly capable of deciding your own bed time, he was insistent on badgering you about your well being and all that parental shit, blah blah blah. Pesterchum automatically starts running when the computer roars to life and you notice that Dave is online.

\--ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]--  
EB: dude, look. i'm sorry if i came across as pushy earlier.  
EB: i'm just really worried about you. you're never this quiet.  
EB: you're usually shouting your lungs off about everything you can get your mouth on!  
TG: dude just drop it its nothing  
TG: i cant just fill my lungs with hot air and spew it out when im in a freezer  
TG: do you get what im sayin theres absolutely nothin to spill  
TG: but i swear on my great aunt fredericks grave that if there is a liquid to be tipped over onto the carpet  
TG: youll be the first to know  
EB: promise?  
TG: yeah dude promise  
EG: okay. goodnight dave.  
TG: get some rest johnjamin  
\--ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG]--

You finally decide to head to bed and do so with a gracious sigh, sinking into your pillow dutifully and following your consciousness into dreamland with minimal complaints.

It's not surprising that the next few days pass uneventfully. You go to class, stare at a professor for an hour, jot down extensive notes while your pen hand fights desperately to keep up with the rapid pace set by some high standard all colleges seemed to run at, and then you go home. Your dad always had dinner ready for you, and you'd always eat it gratefully and with the required amount of idle dinner conversation.  
Everything was routine, and you were just fine with that. 

So when your phone rang at four fifteen on Friday night (Saturday morning, you note groggily) you weren't sure at all what to expect.  
Certainly not the sound of a worried thirty something year old man insisting that you should know where Dave was. 

"Sir?" Your voice cracks with sleep and you clear your throat, sitting up and fumbling at your bedside lamp. "Sorry but you're going to have to run that by me one more time. Something about Dave?" 

A husky, impatient sort of voice barks at you from the other end of the line and you have to hold your phone a good inch away from your ear to avoid certain brain damage. 

"Dave hasn't been home since Thursday. I was hopin' you'd know where he got himself off to." 

The caller hadn't identified himself yet but with the context and the thick southern twang it was a small matter of putting together the pieces. 

"You're Dave's bro, right?"  
"Of fucking course I'm Dave's bro what did you expect, the Spanish Inquisition?"  
"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition." 

And even with the gravity of the situation, for which you'd usually get scolded for had it been one of your friends, he laughs. It's a short, restrained laugh, but it's something.  
"Look kid, if you hear from him let me know. He's not usually like this and I figured his best friend would know but hey, kids got his secrets. Just like the rest of us." 

And, without a more detailed explanation or even goodbye he hangs up, leaving you sitting up in your bed, your eyebrows knit together in confusion and the false white of your lamp illuminating the lines of worry on your face. 

What could Dave possibly have gotten himself into? 

You lay in bed for hours afterwards, staring up at the ceiling and trying desperately do distract yourself with shadow puppets, but to no avail. You knew you had a right to feel worried about him, clearly something was up and now he was gone. Not to say it was unlike Dave to drop off the face of the earth for a few days, but he always told someone beforehand. A casual, "Hey I'm headed off to Narnia for a few I'll see you guys on the other side of the wardrobe." Never just... nothing.  
It was unnerving and to say the least it resulted in a sleepless night.

As soon as the hour was more appropriate (Meaning after school the next day: your phone turned itself off promptly at 8 A.M. on school days and then only back on once class was over) you message Rose, fervently hoping that Dave had said something of significance to her. 

\--ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT]--  
EB: hey, rose.  
EB: rose.  
EB: have you heard from dave?  
EB: it's not just paranoia i swear his bro called me last night saying he hadn't been home  
EB: and that's not usual.  
EB: rose??  
EB: god dammit you're not online are you.  
\--ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering tentacleTherapist [TT]--

Gnashing your teeth together in frustration you scroll through your list of contacts in the application, thumbing at Jade's next, though the likelihood that Dave had said anything to her was even more slim than it had been with Rose. At least Jade was actually online, and maybe able to assuage your worries a bit more than the empty silence that messaging Rose left in its wake. 

\--ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG]--  
EB: hey jade you're there right?  
GG: yeah!! what do you need?  
EB: you haven't heard from dave since wednesday have you?  
GG: ummmm nope!! why is he mia or something D:  
EB: howd you know?  
GG: shrugs!!! when you find him we should put a tracking chip in his molars or something!  
EB: how can you act so nonchalant about all of this?  
GG: john have you ever thought that maybe you care a little too much about dave??  
GG: im sure hes fine! :)  
GG: now stop being a worrywart and go do your homework! ive got loads of it tonight so ive gotta go bye!!!!  
\--gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB]--

Well that was a bust. You throw your phone to the ground in a fit worthy of some serious screentime and proceed to stomp on it with the hell of your platform boot--  
Wait.  
No that was in your head. You aren't a movie star. Or a spoiled teenager. You actually tuck your phone back into your pocket and save the tantrum for the confines of your own mind. 

Well, if your friends weren't going to help you, you'd try to find Dave yourself.

First stop: his apartment.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever attempt at writing Bro x John but I'm confident it'll turn out wonderfully and I hope y'all are prepared for a tantalizingly slow build up and an extremely gratifying resolution. 
> 
> At least, that's the direction I'm driving this in. 
> 
> You should know better than most how these things tend to develop a mind of their own. Regardless, I'm really excited about this and so therefore so should you be! 
> 
> I'm going to try and update regularly, but feel free to prod me a few times if you feel like I'm being lazy.


End file.
